MEASLES AND MUMPS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26025, 13 December 1945, Page 4

MEASLES AND MUMPS

POSITION IN OTAGO DISTRICT TEN SCHOOLS CLOSED “ The outbreak of measles and mumps is making some progress In certain areas of the Otago district,” said the secretary of the Otago Education Board (Mr G. W. Carrington to a Daily Times reporter yesterday. He added, however, that it could not he described as widespread and that to date only some 10 schools had found it necessary to close. The latest school to close is the Tapanui District High School, where an outbreak of measles has affected over 50 children. Mr Carrington said that the’Health Department was of the opinion that . the closing of a school would not necessarily prevent an infectious disease from becoming an epidemic. It had been pointed out that when all contacts were kept at home, the children remaining at school probably obtained a greater measure of isolation than would be possible if the school were closed and the children were permitted to mingle at will. Contacts could be excluded from a school, but they could not be prevented from playing in the streets or from attending places of entertainment. “ With the holiday season approaching, parents in districts where an infectious disease is spreading will be inclined to keep their children at home so that falling numbers will make it difficult for committees to keep their schools open, Mr Carrington added. The Health Department had informed him that these epidemics began last June, and that so far as its officers knew the position was no worse now than it was then. They had pointed cut, however, that the diseases were not notifiable, and the only reports on which the department could gauge the incidence of the diseases were those of district nurses.